Brillcam POE dropping

[moparcruiser]

Ok, so I am very new here and trying to figure out the best way for me to do what I want to do on a budget, and have stuff be reliable.

I have a PC set up with DVIEWCAM software, a DLINK (old) WIFI PTZ camera, a brand new Brillcam WIFI camera and a brand new Brillcam POE camera.

The first thing I found is that windows updates suck eggs....LOL.....causes everything to go offline. And its a manual restart of everything. Not great for if I am away.

That said, it doesnt happen often and I can "delay" updates for a week at a time via Windows.

The bigger issue seems to be that my brillcam POE camera will go for a straight week or 10 days without any issues at ALL. But then start dropping and staying dropped as far as the stream....still shows "online" and I can still access it to reboot it via the brillcam app on my phone. I reboot it and its back within a minute or two.

But the quetsion is WHY is it dropping that way? It has a static IP and its POE....I figured that would be the MOST stable setup.

Ironically, the ancient DLINK PTZ camera that I had shelved for a while because it was so unreliable has been ROCK SOLID for months!

And the Brillcam WIFI camera is also failry reliable.

I had set the two brillcams up to automatically reboot once a day.....that should still be set.....I will have to check that....but recently that POE camera has been a real pain in the......well.....

I am not a network guru and this is befuddling me.

I am THIS close to saying screw it and buying a NVR with built in POE etc.....assuming that would be more reliable.....but I would lose my investment on the two brillcam cameras and also I NEED to have a couple of these cameras as WIFI....and the systems I have looked at that I can afford do not seem to like to play with WIFI.

Please be gentle..I am a newbie.

The worst part of this is trying to find time to get it to work.....and then it does for a while...then out of the blue acts up....>UGH!

 

[samplenhold]

I noticed that you have not gotten any replies. You are asking about cameras that no experienced user here would buy. It is hard for experienced users to advise you on cams they would not use themselves. I looked up those Brillcams from your other post and they are 8MP on 1/2.8" sensors, which will be poor performers at night. Plus we generally never advise you to use WIFI for security cams.

Now to address the issue of the hardwired cam going offline, about 90% of the time it is a connectivity issue if it is hardwired. These intermittent issues can be hard to track down. So it could be that the cable is bad, or one of the RJ45 connectors is bad or loose. Re-crimping them may help. If when you ran the cable, if you kinked it, you could have damaged the wires inside. If you used staples or tight wire ties you could have cut or damaged the wires inside. If these are used outside, how are the connections waterproofed? Even if they do not get wet, humidity over time can cause corrosion. Using dielectric grease can help to minimize this. It is also possible that the NVR port has issues or the POE from the NVR is not putting out quality voltage. Ultimately, the cam could just be buggered.

WIFI cams going offline is just a way of life.

 

[wittaj]

And you can turn off Windows updates - many of here have done that.

How is the POE camera being passed through your network - is it passing through the router? If so, routers are notorious for not being able to keep up with the demands of surveillance cameras. Unlike streaming devices, these cameras do not buffer. Wifi cams are going through the router and if this one is as well, it could be having a data processing issue and perhaps the camera is interpreting that as a loss of signal.

There are ways to get around keeping your cameras off of your network wifi. Powerline Adaptor and Nanostation are two frequent options used.

Plus you want to keep cameras off of the internet because ironically surveillance cameras are not very good from a security standpoint and are easily hacked. You may say you don't care that someone sees your backyard, but these hacks are usually done for DoS attacks.

 

[TonyR]

+1^^ to @samplenhold and @wittaj .....

@moparcruiser ,
Is the cable that's run to that POE cam that has issues pure solid copper or is it CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) ?

 

[moparcruiser]

I noticed that you have not gotten any replies. You are asking about cameras that no experienced user here would buy. It is hard for experienced users to advise you on cams they would not use themselves. I looked up those Brillcams from your other post and they are 8MP on 1/2.8" sensors, which will be poor performers at night. Plus we generally never advise you to use WIFI for security cams.

Now to address the issue of the hardwired cam going offline, about 90% of the time it is a connectivity issue if it is hardwired. These intermittent issues can be hard to track down. So it could be that the cable is bad, or one of the RJ45 connectors is bad or loose. Re-crimping them may help. If when you ran the cable, if you kinked it, you could have damaged the wires inside. If you used staples or tight wire ties you could have cut or damaged the wires inside. If these are used outside, how are the connections waterproofed? Even if they do not get wet, humidity over time can cause corrosion. Using dielectric grease can help to minimize this. It is also possible that the NVR port has issues or the POE from the NVR is not putting out quality voltage. Ultimately, the cam could just be buggered.

WIFI cams going offline is just a way of life.

Hi and thanks for the reply and advice.

I am a video editor/videographer by trade for 30 years and I get and agree with what you are saying re: sensor size. I was worried too.

The sensor is the Sony Starvis 1/2.7” 8MP progressive image sensor......honestly, the Brillcam units do great at night, at least for what I need.

When I have lighting turned on at night, the image is color and clear. Lights go out and the IR kicks on, the image is clear and very usable. I was pleasantly shocked at how good they are. Are they as good as "professional" or industrial (aka $$$$) units? probably not. For what I am doing with them though I am pleased enough. "better" is always better. But again, I am a newbie in this realm. So I am not really sure what brands actually DELIVER on their "we are better" marketing, and its expensive to just keep trying different brands.

re: WIFI use -- yeah, i agree --- but in my case for one camera it is not really an option to run cable. Well, its an option, but it will require trenching form the main building to the outbuilding....and at my age that is either weeks of backbreaking work or an expensive contractor. So I figured I would try WIFI. I had tried a DLINK unit and while I loved the image quality and extra wide angle, and even a built in security light, it would NOT stay online reliably. The Brillcam WIFI camera is the same exact camera as the POE version, just with WIFI built in. I expected much more downtime with the WIFI that I am seeing given initial experiences with my DLINK (old) WIFI PTZ camera.....even that DLINK camera though is VERY stable now. But yeah, I put the POE where its at because I wanted reliability.

I didn't crimp my own cable for the POE camera, I used an off the shelf 100 footer bought in a big box store. I was careful not to tweak or pinch the cable when I pulled it......

The Brillcam connector has a weather proof capsule that surrounds the cable connection.....but it wouldnt accomodate the pre-made cable end with the break-proof clips and stress relief.......so I wrapped the hell out of it with e-tape.....and that is up inside the eaves of my roofline, so no direct water/rain exposure. The entry hole to the eaves is sealed with putty.

Seems like EVERYTHING is "made in china"...so it is tough to know what is quality and what isn't. I was advised on another forum that my brillcam cameras are actually HIKVISION aka EZVISION .

Another popular brand , LOREX, is said to actually be DAHUA.

Does anyone make their stuff in the US anymore? LOL (Rhetorical question).

I did get a hold of Brillcam tech support (language barrier aside) and they had me update the POE camera's firmware...that was a couple days ago and so far, no drops.

I guess it is a wait and see sort of thing.

I was hoping maybe there was some magical networking thing I do not know about to fix the issue.

I *DID" install BlueIris, on trial. It sees the cameras just fine and easily. But my older PC would need upgraded to allow for the 24/7 compressed recording BI does.....with the three cameras, it was running 95% CPU.......I assume that is because BI is compressing while it is recording. In the "trigger" mode it was working well, but I would prefer 24/7 recording.

So rather than spend $$$ on building a new powerhouse PC, I am looking into switching from a PC based system to an NVR....and that is throwing me more fits as , again, every brand claims to be the "best".........and would really like to try using my brillcams with it since they are only barely 3 months old and I cant return them at this point.

 

[moparcruiser]

And you can turn off Windows updates - many of here have done that.

How is the POE camera being passed through your network - is it passing through the router? If so, routers are notorious for not being able to keep up with the demands of surveillance cameras. Unlike streaming devices, these cameras do not buffer. Wifi cams are going through the router and if this one is as well, it could be having a data processing issue and perhaps the camera is interpreting that as a loss of signal.

There are ways to get around keeping your cameras off of your network wifi. Powerline Adaptor and Nanostation are two frequent options used.

Plus you want to keep cameras off of the internet because ironically surveillance cameras are not very good from a security standpoint and are easily hacked. You may say you don't care that someone sees your backyard, but these hacks are usually done for DoS attacks.

Thanks for the reply and interest.....

I have the POE camera connected to an un-managed POE switch, and that switch is in turn connected to my Comcast router.

I am DEFINITELY not a network guy....I would liek to set my cameras up so they are off my network (airgapped or something like that) but also be able to access via the web when I am away......right now, I cannot access while I am away since the cameras are set up with the local IP addresses.

I am considering going to a NVR setup that includes a POE switch etc....one stop sort of thing, plus no windows updates to worry about......I just dont know where to start looking or what brands will deliver and have tech support etc etc....again, as I said in my other post, "everything" is "made in china" and supported from china it seems.

 

[moparcruiser]

+1^^ to @samplenhold and @wittaj .....

@moparcruiser ,
Is the cable that's run to that POE cam that has issues pure solid copper or is it CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) ?

Good question.....I am not sure....It was a bog box store, name brand pre-made cable......I will see if I still have the package for it....

 

[wittaj]

Get an Asus router that has OpenVPN and you can VPN back into your home network remotely while away and keep your cameras off the router and off the internet.

Many think their cameras produce well at night - Any camera can look great at night for still images. Reolinks and Arlos and other big box store cameras look great with no motion, but introduce motion and it is blur city. This camera is 8MP on a 1/2.7" sensor and that is pretty poor. Any 2MP on the same sensor will blow it away at night.

What about motion and someone walking - can you clearly make out details enough to give to the police or is it a motion blur mess? A perp and door checker is always moving and isn't going to stop for 5 seconds to let the camera be able to get a clean image.

Please post a night video of this camera in action with motion - a person and a car. Many users here do not use this camera, but if it performs many may consider it...

What processor in your computer - and did you run substreams? Optimizing Blue Iris per the wiki can work magic. A member here is running a 4th generation Intel CPU with 50 cameras and is mid 30% CPU.

Don't discount Blue Iris/computer combo as an NVR. Keep in mind an NVR is a stripped down computer after all....and isn't true plug-n-play like people believe. You still have to dial the cameras into your setting. Once you do that, might as well go with something that has the best chance of working with many different camera brands. And I have found Blue Iris to be more robust and easier than an NVR. As always, YMMV...

When I was looking at NVRs and upgrading my cheap NVR, once I realized that not all NVRs are created equal, and once I priced out a good one, it was cheaper to buy a refurbished computer than an NVR. You don't need to buy components and build one.

Many of these refurbished computers are business class computers that have come off lease and is how most of us get a computer for BI. The one I bought I kid you not I could not tell that it was a refurbished unit - not a speck of dust or dents or scratches on it. It appeared to me like everything was replaced and I would assume just the motherboard with the intel processor is what was from the original unit. I went with the lowest end processor on the WIKI list as it was the cheapest and it runs my system fine. Could probably get going for $200 or so. A real NVR will cost more than that. And most of us have Windows updates turned off on the Blue Iris computer.

NVRs from the box units like a Amcrest and Lorex cap out incoming bandwidth (which impacts the resolution and FPS of the cameras). The Lorex and Amcrest NVR maxes out at 80Mbps and truly only one or a couple cameras that will display 4K. My neighbors was limited to that and he is all upset it isn't 4K for all eight channels and he was capped out at 4096 bitrate on each camera so it was a pixelated mess. Plus you are generally limited to matching camera and NVR brands; whereas with Blue Iris almost any camera can work except for propriety cams (mostly cloud based cams like Arlo, Ring, Nest, etc.)

 

[sebastiantombs]

I don't think the trial version of Blue Iris allows access to all features which is probably why your CPU utilization is so high. Have a look in the Wiki, in the blue bar at the top of the page on a real computer, and have a look in the section for Optimizing Blue Iris. Many are running older 5th and 6th generation processors with 10-25 cameras and the CPU sits at anything from 5 to 20%. I'm running 16 cameras on a 6th generation i7 and it's usually around 15%, depending on motion. Using sub streams on the cameras makes this easy to do, but I don't think the trial version permits that.

 

[samplenhold]

Yes, like @sebastiantombs stated, the trial version of BI will be a CPU hog. This is a known fact. The options that reduce CPU usage are turned off.

Hik makes good cams as does Dahua. The OEM cams that are Hik or Dahua (like your Brillcam) are stripped down versions of a specific model. Sometimes in the hardware, but usually in the firmware. Some OEM cams can be flashed with the official Hik or Dahua firmware yielding full firmware options. Members here have done that with Amcrest cams and there are threads on that.

The Dahua cams that most folks are using now a days are the 5442 series. They are 4MP cams on a 1/1.8" sensor. They have very helpful AI and are really god in low light. They are running about $150-$220 depending on the lens and formfactor.

For surveillance, what separates a good cam from a bad cam is how it performs at night with motion. Any cam can look good with a wide angle shot with nothing moving. You are really interested in getting a face shot that is good enough to positively ID a perp. To do that, the cam must be able to freeze motion so that the face is not blurred. This is simple in daylight, but is problematic at night. Perps never stop moving. They are always moving the head looking for trouble that might come at them, so a shutter speed of at least 1/120 is usually needed for that. That means that you need a lot of light, or less pixels on your sensor, or a large sensor, or a large aperture, or some combination of those. It's like sports photography which I am sure you are familiar with.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Great analogy to sports photography, @samplenhold

 

[moparcruiser]

I don't think the trial version of Blue Iris allows access to all features which is probably why your CPU utilization is so high. Have a look in the Wiki, in the blue bar at the top of the page on a real computer, and have a look in the section for Optimizing Blue Iris. Many are running older 5th and 6th generation processors with 10-25 cameras and the CPU sits at anything from 5 to 20%. I'm running 16 cameras on a 6th generation i7 and it's usually around 15%, depending on motion. Using sub streams on the cameras makes this easy to do, but I don't think the trial version permits that.

Are you recording 24/7 or using "triggers" to record? BI was running at 30% and below on this PC at first but when I turned on constant recording, thats when the CPU went thru the roof.....

 

[moparcruiser]

Yes, like @sebastiantombs stated, the trial version of BI will be a CPU hog. This is a known fact. The options that reduce CPU usage are turned off.

Hik makes good cams as does Dahua. The OEM cams that are Hik or Dahua (like your Brillcam) are stripped down versions of a specific model. Sometimes in the hardware, but usually in the firmware. Some OEM cams can be flashed with the official Hik or Dahua firmware yielding full firmware options. Members here have done that with Amcrest cams and there are threads on that.

The Dahua cams that most folks are using now a days are the 5442 series. They are 4MP cams on a 1/1.8" sensor. They have very helpful AI and are really god in low light. They are running about $150-$220 depending on the lens and formfactor.

For surveillance, what separates a good cam from a bad cam is how it performs at night with motion. Any cam can look good with a wide angle shot with nothing moving. You are really interested in getting a face shot that is good enough to positively ID a perp. To do that, the cam must be able to freeze motion so that the face is not blurred. This is simple in daylight, but is problematic at night. Perps never stop moving. They are always moving the head looking for trouble that might come at them, so a shutter speed of at least 1/120 is usually needed for that. That means that you need a lot of light, or less pixels on your sensor, or a large sensor, or a large aperture, or some combination of those. It's like sports photography which I am sure you are familiar with.

Great points that you and WITTAJ make as far as night time shots etc...... Honestly, I haven't run into a situation yet where I need to look at moving faces at night......will have to do some tests and see what comes of it......because you are right.....if the faces are not recognizable, all I would have is a record of "someone" doing something.....though that would help more than having nothing I suppose.

I'm not gonna lie, WITTAJ.....your post made my head explode...when you explained how you moved from NVR to PC......what you said there was exactly what I was figuring too....that I could build a PC that would do what I need better than a "one stop shop box". But I quickly realized that the learning curver might be more than I could handle and figured a "do it all box" might be the more prudent way to go.....SO MUCH TO LEARN.

But those windows updates are really what is throwing me.....because while we can postpone updates for a while, inevitably windows overrides that and does what the heck it wants.....INFURIATING......and like I said, oncet hat happens, the PC is offline til manual intercession.....

ALL this feedback is excellent.....I did say "WOW!" when I first installed BI trial.....looks VERY VERY robust......and sort of overwhelming at first....but I quickly figured out how to get the cameras working etc.....

Now that you guys have said that BI has comression stuff that is not uable in BI Trial, it has me thinking.......but do you guys run 24/7 recording?

I was gonna get a Skyhawk or Purple 4 TB drive, a better video card, buy BI and see what happens.....but right there, thats another $300 or so.....already spent $100 on the unmanaged hub......thats $400....and I still have the windows issues to think about......

WITTAJ, you also said "Get an Asus router that has OpenVPN and you can VPN back into your home network remotely while away and keep your cameras off the router and off the internet. "

How would that work in conjunction with my comcast router and the unmanaged switch I am using? I use AVAST for virus protection and they offer a VPN software (of course for an extra yearly fee) but I have to believe HARDWARE would be better....like I said, I am NOT a network guy though I work with a lot of them. LOL

 

[sebastiantombs]

I had Comcast and used an Asus router as a direct replacement for their router. The same is true with FiOS.

Windows updates can be disabled, permanently, with a little registry editing. There's a thread somewhere on here discussing it. My machine hasn't updated in quite a while, like a year or more.

You don't need a "better video card" if you have an Intel processor capable of Quicksync. BI will unload video processing to the GPU processor on the motherboard which saves the CPU.

With the full version of BI you can record "direct to disk" which is another saver of CPU utilization.

The ultimate saving of CPU utilization is to use sub streams from your cameras. BI then records the main, high resolution stream, and uses the lower resolution sub stream for motion detection analysis. This can cut CPU utilization by a factor of four or so compared to using the main stream (high resolution). There is no loss of sensitivity for motion detection and when you view a single camera or an alert BI uses the main stream. Kind of the best of both worlds that way.

 

[samplenhold]

My BI server only runs BI and a NTP server for time. Windows 10 will download updates but will not do the install until BI is closed and I reboot the PC. As long as BI is running, the updates are paused waiting for a reboot. You can set BI to launch if the PC reboots.

As far as isolating your cams from the internet and the modem, you can use a second NIC in the BI PC, known as a dual NIC setup. One NIC for the cams and the other NIC for the internet. You are basically setting up two separate LANs in your home. See the figures below and the thread that explains it.

Dual NIC setup on your Blue Iris Machine

In making your system more secure this is a great option to eliminate your cameras calling home / connecting to the internet This is a great place to start to setup a bit more secure network and learn more about IP/Subnets etc. before adding dual NICs: Router Security - Subnets and IP addresses...

ipcamtalk.com

I record 24/7 and the thread below explains why. If you are going to get a WD Purple drive, it might be prudent to go bigger than 4TB. I have three 10TB drives. But I have 23 cams.

Why I like Continuous Recording (aka 24/7)

So a guy came to the door yesterday, and while my wife did not open the door, it kind of spooked her out. She said he seem suspicious saying he found a driver's license on the lawn and wanted to know if it belonged to her. So when I got back from the range, I checked out the cams. This is one...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[wittaj]

The VPN you need is free and comes on Asus Routers or you put it on a Raspberry Pi, but most go with an Asus router for simplicity. Keep in mind, this is a VPN that goes back to your home and it is like you are sitting on your couch while at Starbucks. VPNs you pay for usually are to hide your IP address for illegal Netflix and porn LOL. The VPN offered as part of a virus protection doesn't hide your IP address per say, but it doesn't put you back on your home network either.

Most of us have purchased a refurbished computer - a member here just got a 4th generation with Windows 10 Pro and almost 1GB SSD and 16GB of RAM for $150. They are out there. a 4th generation Intel is more than sufficient with the substreams option now.

I followed the steps to disable Windows updates and haven't had an issue.

The dual NIC in the BI Computer is the way to go. And you just turn the comcast router into just a modem and bypass it and use the Asus router.

Most of us here store 24/7 for the reasons mentioned above.

 

[moparcruiser]

I am learning a lot here guys!!!!

So I just roamed around outside at night in varying amounts of light...porch lights on, off etc.

I have to say, the brillcams do a decent job. Watching the rolling video I can see my ugly mug 100% clear, even zoomed in. As WITTAJ said, when frozen they do get blurry....bu ti can still make out my facial hair features, eyeglasses,general face etc.....I could still easily tell what clothes I am wearing .....even read my tshirt...... I have auto-lighting in the two locations and with that kicked on not bad....and even if those lights are 100% out, pretty good....so while they are not probably the optimal cameras to use, not too terrible......good enough for now. Once I figure out the PC versus NVR approach I can upgrade.

But my bigger and happier experience tonight has been revisiting BI......I deleved into the help menu (WOW! ITS EXTENSIVE AND THOROUGH!!) and played with settings......I used the "direct to disk" setting which IS available in this trial....and turned it to BI DVR and turned off re-encode... CPU immediately dropped from 90-100% to between 25 and 40%. NOT BAD AT ALL NOW!! That is for three cameras. I turned off the "record dual streams" for now...with that on, I was up a little closer to 50-60% I think. Which makes sense I guess....3 recordings versus 6 (right?).

I did try the "MP4 format" recording mode rather than the BlueIris DVR.......of course then you cant watch the recorded footage while the cam is recording.....so I turned it back to the BI DVR.

Any benefit to using the MP4 setting rather than the BI DVR?

Not sure if I mentioned, right now I am ONLY running the one hard drive in the PC....a 2 TB drive split into C and D.....I know thats a bottleneck.....again, if I stay this course I would be picking up a 2 or 4 TB skyhawk or purple drive JUST for recording. I currently have the "new" and "DB" folders set up on the D drive to keep C free for Windows crap.

Gonna let this run over a period of a couple days I think and see how it holds up...

It sounds like y'all have the who VPN and updates problems licked......if you guys dont mind me asking more (and more and more and more) questions over time, I may just be swayed to stick with the PC route!

I will say again that..>WOW......BI seems REALLY robust!

 

[moparcruiser]

My BI server only runs BI and a NTP server for time. Windows 10 will download updates but will not do the install until BI is closed and I reboot the PC. As long as BI is running, the updates are paused waiting for a reboot. You can set BI to launch if the PC reboots.

As far as isolating your cams from the internet and the modem, you can use a second NIC in the BI PC, known as a dual NIC setup. One NIC for the cams and the other NIC for the internet. You are basically setting up two separate LANs in your home. See the figures below and the thread that explains it.
View attachment 85093View attachment 85094

Dual NIC setup on your Blue Iris Machine

In making your system more secure this is a great option to eliminate your cameras calling home / connecting to the internet This is a great place to start to setup a bit more secure network and learn more about IP/Subnets etc. before adding dual NICs: Router Security - Subnets and IP addresses...

ipcamtalk.com

I record 24/7 and the thread below explains why. If you are going to get a WD Purple drive, it might be prudent to go bigger than 4TB. I have three 10TB drives. But I have 23 cams.

Why I like Continuous Recording (aka 24/7)

So a guy came to the door yesterday, and while my wife did not open the door, it kind of spooked her out. She said he seem suspicious saying he found a driver's license on the lawn and wanted to know if it belonged to her. So when I got back from the range, I checked out the cams. This is one...

ipcamtalk.com

Those links look great! Pretty intimidating but looks like step by step.....
If I went with the ASUS route, could I use the comcast built in WIFI router for my home PCs/android devices and just use the ASUS for my wifi cam, dual nic BI pc and the POE switch/cams?

That second picture/diagram takes out the "switch" in diagram 1 (I assume that is the ASUS router???) that comes right off the modem/router (I assume THAT is the comcast unit?)....but to isolate my current WIFI cam I would need to go with diagram one, since I need WIFI for it....right?

 

[samplenhold]

If I went with the ASUS route, could I use the comcast built in WIFI router for my home PCs/android devices and just use the ASUS for my wifi cam, dual nic BI pc and the POE switch/cams?

Not knowing what the Comcast router is or how it works, I doubt it. In general, one puts the modem/router supplied by the ISP into what is known as bridge mode, which just passes the ISP connection downstream to the ASUS router. That ASUS router would be in place of the ISP router. It would be smart to get one that has WIFI so that your main home LAN would have WIFI. The camera LAN would not be connected to that ASUS router. If you need WIFI for cams, then a cheep access point could be used on that LAN plugged into the POE switch for the cams.

 

[wittaj]

Do not mess with the default coding areas - they do not do what you think and will jack up CPU usage when you are not expecting it.

The Direct-to-disc feature allows Blue Iris to record video directly to the hard drive without re-encoding it. Re-encoding video is extremely CPU-intensive, often wastes disk space, and should be avoided at all costs. Direct-to-disc recording is perhaps the most important optimization you can make. You are messing with settings that are actually not accomplishing what you want. Keep it as BVR files.

You want to record the substream - they take up little space and help TREMENDOUSLY on playback. When you try to watch several cameras on playback and if substreams are not recorded, then in the tile screen of cameras, they will all be mainstream and will max out the CPU!

Nothing worse than wanting to watch back an event as it unfolds across all of your cameras and cannot because the CPU is maxing out.